Navigating the H-1B Application Process

Posted by Harry Tapias on April 3, 2020

Visa application close up

Applying for the H-1B Visa for temporary workers has never been harder. As the U.S. economy improves and businesses seek more skilled foreign labor to grow their operations, the H-1B has become more competitive. Last year, over 200,000 people applied, even though only 85,000 can ultimately be accepted—an exception rate of about 42 percent. 

To make matters worse, an application must be approved before entering the lottery. You must fight just for a 42 percent chance to get the visa. Every applicant gets reviewed by an officer of U.S. Customs and Immigration Services (USCIS), who either approves the request, denies it, or asks for more information or documents through a “request for evidence” (RFE).

Understanding the Odds

Since 2017, making a winning case for the H-1B has been made even harder by an executive order that puts more scrutiny on applications. As a result, the approval rate for H-1B applications—again, just to be allowed the chance to be picked—dropped from 96 percent in 2015 to 75 percent in 2019. Meanwhile, the number of RFEs—which can delay decisions by months—has ballooned from about 22 percent (roughly one out of five applications) to 60 percent as of 2019. 

All told, only three out of 10 H-1B applications that got selected from the lottery do so without any RFEs. No wonder the number of companies even bothering to apply has declined over the last four years.

The point of all this isn’t to discourage anyone from applying—the H-1B remains a vital and viable resource, and the best shot a lot of businesses have to grow and prosper—but to stress just how important it is to come armed with proper knowledge and experience to apply.

For example, to discourage employers from using the H-1B to hire cheaper foreign workers in place of American ones, the government requires you to prepare a “prevailing wage” that shows you will pay the foreign national (known as the “beneficiary”) slightly more than the most common wage paid to U.S. workers. 

 

Checklist

Providing Necessary Documentation

Meeting this requirement, in turn, requires drafting or gathering a range of other documents, including a formal job offer letter to the beneficiary and a detailed job description that breaks down the specific duties he or she will perform in your company under the H-1B. 

Further, these documents must also show that the job you have lined up is a “specialty occupation” defined by requiring at least a Bachelor’s Degree. That means you will need to collect the beneficiary’s degrees, resume, school transcripts, and anything else proving their educational attainment. (However, if they obtained their degree from abroad, you’ll have to take the extra step of finding a certified expert that can translate the documents and show that their degree is equivalent to at least a U.S. Bachelor’s.)

Moreover, you will have to fill out numerous forms: At a minimum, there’s the H1B Labor Condition Application (LCA) for Specialty Occupations, Form ETA-9035/9035E, Form G-28, Form I-129, and Form I-907.

If any form or documentation is missing, incorrect, or incomplete, your application will receive an RFE at best, and an outright denial at worst. Given the increasingly stringent demands by USCIS, it is likely that even the smallest issue will worsen your chances of approval.

 

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Hiring an Immigration Attorney Can Help

Given all that, there is no substitute for legal expertise and experience. Anyone can write these letters, gather these documents, and fill these forms, but only an immigration attorney with a years-long track record of success with H-1B petitions can do all these things right. Think of your attorney as the deft captain who can steer your ship through the rough waters of the H-1B process.

To learn more about the H-1B Visa and how our attorneys can help, contact Loigica, P.A. at (786) 292-9704 or email info@loigica.com.

Topics: H1B Visa